Python Imaging Library is a free and open-source additional library for the Python programming language that adds support for opening, manipulating, and saving many different image file formats. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The latest version of PIL is 1.1.7, was released in September 2009 and supports Python 1.5.2–2.7.[3]

Development of the original project, known as PIL, was discontinued in 2011.[2] Subsequently, a successor project named Pillow forked the PIL repository and added Python 3.x support.[5] This fork has been adopted as a replacement for the original PIL in Linux distributions including Debian[6] and Ubuntu (since 13.04).[7]

Capabilities

PIL offers several standard procedures for image manipulation. These include:

  • per-pixel manipulations,[8]
  • masking and transparency handling,
  • image filtering, such as blurring, contouring, smoothing, or edge finding,[9]
  • image enhancing, such as sharpening, adjusting brightness, contrast or color,[10]
  • adding text

File formats

Supported file formats include PPM, PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP. PIL is extensible, allowing users to create custom decoders for any file format.[11]

Programming examples

import os
from PIL import Image


def convert_jpegs_to_pngs(folder_path):
    # Checks if the provided path is a folder
    if not os.path.isdir(folder_path):
        print(f"Error: {folder_path} is not a valid folder.")
        return

    # Iterates over all files in the folder
    for filename in os.listdir(folder_path):
        # Checks if the file has a .jpg or .jpeg extension
        if filename.lower().endswith(".jpg") or filename.lower().endswith(".jpeg"):
            # Full path of the file
            jpeg_path = os.path.join(folder_path, filename)
            # Path for the converted file
            png_path = os.path.join(folder_path, os.path.splitext(filename)[0] + ".png")

            try:
                # Opens the JPEG image
                with Image.open(jpeg_path) as img:
                    # Converts and saves as PNG
                    img.save(png_path, "PNG")
                    print(f"Converted {jpeg_path} to {png_path}")
            except Exception as e:
                print(f"Error converting {jpeg_path}: {e}")

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Software License". Secret Labs AB. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  2. ^ a b "effbot / pil-2009-raclette". Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Python Imaging Library". Secret Labs AB. Archived from the original on 21 November 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  4. ^ "Release Notes". Pillow (PIL Fork) Documentation. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  5. ^ "Pillow: a modern fork of PIL". Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  6. ^ "Details of package python-imaging in sid". packages.debian.org. Software in the Public Interest. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  7. ^ "Details of package python-imaging in raring". ubuntu.com. Canonical Ltd. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  8. ^ "PyAccess Module". readthedocs.io. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  9. ^ "ImageFilter Module". readthedocs.io. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  10. ^ "ImageColor Module". readthedocs.io. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  11. ^ "D. Writing Your Own File Decoder". Effbot.org. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
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